Overview: It's
hard to believe Newcastle have been a mere shadow of the team that finished one
game short of the grand final last season. While their inconsistency on the
field is a massive cause for concern moving forward, especially with losses to
the Raiders, Cowboys and Broncos to their name, away from the paddock the
turmoil has been equally as disconcerting for the Novocastrians. There's been
drama with Nathan Tinkler failing to pay several players and staff on time and
subsequently relinquishing control of the club; the sackings of Russell Packer
and Zane Tetevano; and a dreadful injury count including a heartbreaking spinal
injury to Alex McKinnon. Yes, the Knights seemingly haven't been able to take a
trick in 2014, and it's leaving their coach Wayne Bennett and captain Kurt Gidley
almost at a loss for words.

Positives: One
quality factor that the Knights have maintained is their ability to lift for
the big games. While the competition remains tight, the Knights have gone
within a whisker of beating the top two teams. They should consider themselves
unlucky falling to Canterbury (16-12 in Round 8) and Manly (15-14 in Round 10).
Two old heads in the forward pack have been
playing extremely well despite their team's poor showing this season. Beau
Scott earned himself a New Souths Wales recall off the back of his three tries,
four line-breaks, 22 offloads, 23 tackle breaks and 24.7 tackles per game,
while Adam Cuthbertson has been brilliant wherever Bennett has played him in
the pack this season with 22 offloads, 29.9 tackles (23) and 125.4 metres per
game. Elsewhere, Newcastle has welcomed Jake Mamo, Joseph Tapine and Paterika
Vaivai to the big league this season with this injection of youth demonstrating
that the future is still bright.

Negatives: The Novocastrians'
troubles started at the pre-season Auckland Nines when influential five-eighth
Jarrod Mullen went down with a hamstring injury that kept him out for the first
five weeks. Their tyres were further punctured when the rest of the spine in
Gidley, Tyrone Roberts and Darius Boyd went down in Round 1, and the team hasn't
really recovered. Their forward depth has taken blow after blow too. Along with
Packer, Tetevano and McKinnon, Willie Mason, Korbin Sims, Jeremy Smith and
Clint Newton have missed a substantial amount of football leading to their pack
looking brittle at certain points throughout the year.

Biggest Moment: It
came the week after Alex McKinnon's spinal injury in their Round 4 clash with
Cronulla. With emotion running high at Hunter Stadium, the hashtag 'Rise for
Alex' trending on Twitter and a stirring minute of applause crackling across
the ground for teammate McKinnon, the
Knights won their first game of the season with a 30-nil shutout over fellow
cellar dwellers Cronulla. It was a day that left even Wayne Bennett with a tear
in his eye.

NRL.com Prediction:
Our ladder predictor exercise has the Knights finishing on 24 points which we
anticipate will see them finish in the bottom four teams.